This was the true light that enlightens every person by his coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own creation, yet his own people did not receive him. (John 1:9-11)

Pilate continued his rule; the religious rulers maintained their prestige, the people went on with life.

Betrayed by a disciple, denied by his most vocal supporter, his death witnessed by his mother. Not one person spoke a word in his defense. Those he healed, the mother who nursed him, the disciples he trained; all were silent.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:34

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Luke 23:46

Jesus was dead.

Jesus didn’t die at the hand of the Father in some divine Faustian deal with the devil. He died as the intensified wickedness of the world converged upon him. Jesus’ death was not exacted by God in a cosmic prisoner exchange; God’s best for the poor wretches captured by satan. Jesus’ death was inevitable from the moment he entered this fallen world as greed, power, selfishness, ambition, fear, and every other wicked motive converged to silence the convicting life and voice of all that is good and right. He took upon himself – he embraced – the sin of all the world; he allowed us to do our worst; allowed us to see the wretchedness of what we had been becoming –what, in fact, we are. We killed God in bodily form.

But real life – the vibrant reality flowing from the heart of the eternal, living, creating God – can never die! And light – the very essence and character of God Himself (1 John 1:5) – can never be extinguished!

In him was life, and that life brought light to humanity. And the light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out. (John 1:4,5)

A battered body, no longer animated by the Life within, was placed in a grave. The Light was hidden in the side of a mountain, covered and sealed with a stone. Guards were placed. Everyone felt safe and secure.

But darkness can never destroy light. And seeds don’t produce life until they die. (1 Corinthians 15:36)

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:23,24)

The Light burst forth, the seed exploded into Life as the physical body of Jesus rose from the dead! The pivotal point of all of history, the seminal moment for the Kingdom of God, is the reality that Jesus came bodily out of the tomb. We did our worst, and even as we assured ourselves “God is dead!” the very life and light of God exploded into our doomed and dying world with the triumphant shout, “I live!”

And [the angel] said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” Mark 16:6,7

Life triumphed over death! Light invaded the darkness. Life has meaning. There is a purpose. Everything God created and planned for his world and his people is freely available to all in the risen Christ. Not a disembodied ethereal existence in some nebulous sphere, but a real physical life with a body like his, at work in his new (renewed) heaven and earth. The promise of all that we can be, what we should be, what we shall be is made possible and demonstrated in the resurrected Jesus.

Every despicable thought and purpose that colluded to kill Jesus is doomed to inevitable and absolute destruction. But every person who surrenders to Jesus as the resurrected and triumphant One can begin living in his eternal kingdom today. The battle is over. Jesus won. This world is dying a certain death, while his world is growing to a certain future in which he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Daniel 2:44

Won’t you surrender your living death and enter into his eternal life? Today?

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. … And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Mat 28:18,20

Jesus is alive!